Dress? Done.

Carpe Diem'd it and bought my wedding dress today at the very lovely Blackburn Bridal Boutique in Blackheath.

Absolutely thrilled (and considering it's not for another 11 months I'm kind of relieved for some reason) with it ^.^ It encapsulates all the different elements that I've been looking for; feminine, romantic, a nod to vintage with a modern twist - AND I KEPT IT UNDER BUDGET.

Is it weird that I'm looking forward to making my groom cry (from it's loveliness, not from hopelessness, obviously.)

"Be yourself. No one can ever tell you, you're doing it wrong*."

I was recently accused of being mean. It has bothered me profusely because of the fact that I, like most people, don't actively go around being unpleasant to people. I'm the sort of person who is usually treated with suspicion (or get inadvertently leered at) because I smile when I make eye contact on the street. I try to perform random acts of kindness by way of offering to help mums with prams at train stations / give my seat up for oldies / hold doors open for people / say thank you to bus drivers.

(On a side note, I suspect that this perceived meanness that's been aimed at me stemmed from a misinterpreted text. Am I mean to have not bothered to correct the accuser on the grounds of stubbornness to correct something that has descended into name-calling?)

I'm now actually a little paranoid that my injuries of late have been bad karma because of me being a horrible person so I'm trying to give people the benefit of the doubt and am aiming to see the best in people.


For example, the crabby lady with a really bad attitude that I encountered yesterday; perhaps she was having a really bad day and couldn't summon to will to be pleasant to anyone. 

Or my Future Mother-In-Law's repetitive strains of "BABIES BABIES BABIES BABIES NOW NOW NOW NOW NOOOOOW" could be construed in a positive light by the fact that she seems to approve of me enough to bear her grandchildren. 

Sometimes people just have a natural inclination to jump to conclusions or to make snap-judgements on people they barely know? 



It's a dangerous thing to take (often-times flippant) things that people say and do too personally. Sometimes people are just in a bad mood. Sometimes one's actions provoke unpleasant memories of similar past occurances. Sometimes people get overly enthusiastic with their views on certain subjects that can come off in an unintentionally annoying way. 


But you know, don't be a pushover and make excuses for people who are actually just horrible.

*Quote from James Leo Herlihy.
 

Because I'm In A BAAAAAAD Place

Job hunting is as soul-crushing as ever and I'm only just realising that I have a dangerous urge to comfort eat to the levels of Fat Monica. I have such a massive urge to demolish half a dozen hotdogs followed by a proper Cream Tea (TWO scones, CLOTTED cream, STRAWBERRY jam and a cuppa tea) and a Peanut Butter Milkshake....


So in acknowledgement of something nice that I read recently, I should therefore think of the things in life that I can be thankful for. And that in turn should put things in perspective.


I would like to say I'm thankful for my health, but considering I twisted my ankle on my afternoon run yesterday and also managed to slice my finger on an opened tin lid earlier - that'd probably be a bit of a stretch.


Ok...
Ok...
Think...

1. I'm thankful that I have Coco. She is the only being in my life who I can count on to stay exactly the same, no matter what. She is predictable and I love her for it.
2. I'm thankful that I have a beautiful home with my Male (bearing in mind that most people our age are renting or living at home...so I'm eternally thankful that we managed to get on with home-making)
3. I'm thankful that the weather has been so sunny and warm, that it's helped my balcony garden to bloom. I'm LOVING my little outdoor area and am hoping that my tomato plant transplant has been successful and that I'll have a bounty of them through summer.

Done.


The fact that I'm finding it hard to think of things to be thankful for is kind of indicative of just how loud this pity party is.  


Will try again another day!

At Least It's Greener

Just when I thought no more harm could possibly come to the Money Plant...
Coco runs into it during a crazed moment of vacuuming frenzy, thus knocking off more than a few twigs.

*sigh*

A Bit of Pre-Paris Baking.

So today's attempt with Macarons was a semi-success. Slightly dipped tops though unfortunately due to my not reading the recipe properly where it concerned 'drying times'* in the oven and then panicking and removing them from the oven.

ANYWAY - they look pretty!

This recipe was the basic French method for Macarons as found in "Les Petits Macarons" but they came out rather much chewier than what I made in the bottom picture - I think because the recipe involved half caster sugar and half icing sugar.

Basic Macaron (with Rhubarb Curd Cream)

So far I've found that I prefer the texture of the ones I've made from the "Great British Bake Off" book - though I'm not convinced of it's authenticity for some reason. Then again - I've not actually tried any macarons apart from the ones I've made so...I can't say for sure if which recipe has been the 'proper' way, if indeed there is such a thing.

Pina Colada Macarons (lumpy because the mix contains desiccated coconut!)

* In my previous trials for Macarons, the process involved leaving the piped mix to settle for at least 20mins at room temperature so as to form a skin. The one in the book involved letting them dry out at a low temperature in the oven and then whapping up the temperature to properly cook.

My Money Plant's Losing "Money"!!

So the Money Plant (or Crassula Ovata if you want to get fancy) that we've had for the past 5 years or so, grew amazingly well and then started to go a bit weird.

We first noticed it's decline in health when a whole branch of it fell off whilst we were watching TV one night, the scar of which you can still see in the picture below.

I made the effort to repot it today and, after an alarming out of leaves dropped off, I managed to ease the (I want to say 'trunk' as it's too thick to be a branch or a stem?) plant out of the pot only to find there was a suspicious lack of roots attached to the trunk...and the soil in the bottom half of the pot was water-logged and packed in under its own weight.

Mystery solved - I drowned the poor thing.

So voilà - here it is in it's new home, with any luck now able to breathe and grow.

The Past 7 Months...

September 2011

October 2011

November 2011

December 2011

January 2012

February 2012

March 2012

My Day of Embodying Procrastination

I'm meant to be doing some hardcore studying for Mandarin as my oral exam is next Friday and yet somehow I find myself updating my dear blog that I've not touched since July. Hmm.

Jobs I've found for myself to do in lieu of studying:

• watered my plants.
• make bread (Foccaccia to be precise)
• booked a wedding show.
• taken pictures of me and Coco.

• taken pictures of my Mooncake - 中秋节快乐!(Meaning "Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!" Hah! I've done some mandarin!)

• Backed up my Blackberry and sync'd the pics from it.
• Browsed Facebook.
• Done laundry.
• Had a Stephen Chow movie on whilst I was trying to study - perhaps confusing my head because I was listening to Cantonese whilst trying to take in Mandarin.
  

OK I managed to do SOME Mandarin but not enough to the extent of retaining much knowledge that wasn't already ingrained into my memory.

Nicest Man in Rock; We're Coming For You!!!

Whilst we're all very excited about finally seeing Foo Fighters in concert, my anxiety over having to leave the group to go pee and then try to find them again is overwhelming said excitement.

Should I just not drink at all for the duration? Dilemma.

Geekiest Morning Ever

It all started this morning when I was trying to figure out what episode of "Community" I'd last watched, and then I found out that (yesssss) the series has been renewed for a 3rd Season (otherwise I'd have been rather Changry.)

Then I discovered the joys of reading about how some of my favourite shows came into being via Wikipedia - which led to the discovery that "Supernatural" has been renewed for a 7th Season (which I'm a bit dubious about...Smallville went into double digits of Seasons and judging from the episode teasers, got really ridiculous).

From reading up on the origins of Marvel Comic's Thor yesterday and checking out Once Upon A Geek this morning - I've ended up acquiring the first season of "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" as a nice buffer between the release of "Thor" and the upcoming "Captain America" and, in anticipation of "The Avengers" (not to be confused with John Steed and Emma Peel - which is what I thought when I first heard about the release...Oops. Showing some weird age there.)

Usually I'm not all that bothered about the comic-book adaptions into movies but I'm eagerly awaiting the release of "The Avengers"...why? JOSS WHEDON is Directing. About bloody time someone gave him a chance to be involved in something that won't get cancelled in the middle of it's awesomeness.

Umm...And now back to work.